American League Roundup : Fisk Backs Red Sox to the Wall Again

For the last seven years, Carlton Fisk has only been to Fenway Park as a visitor, but he still keeps making himself at home.

The former Red Sox star hit two home runs Wednesday night at Boston to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 5-3 victory that ended Roger Clemens’ five-game winning streak.

With two out in the second inning, Fisk tagged Clemens (13-8) for his 16th home run. Then, with one on in the fourth, Fisk hit a line drive that just cleared the 37-foot wall in left field.

The White Sox built a 5-0 lead for Bill Long, who pitched two-hit ball for six innings. But in the seventh, Dwight Evans hit his 30th home run after singles by Wade Boggs and Mike Greenwell. That was all the offense the Red Sox could muster.

Fisk, who has hit 298 career home runs, has hit 102 of them at Fenway Park. He was the Red Sox catcher for 10 seasons.

Since signing as a free agent with the White Sox, Fisk has hit 24 home runs against the Red Sox, 12 of them at Fenway, and has driven in 54 runs in 70 games against Boston.

Detroit 10, Minnesota 8--The slumping Twins can’t even win at home these days. With two out in the ninth inning at Minneapolis, pinch-hitter Matt Nokes hit an 0-and-2 pitch for a two-run single and Chet Lemon followed with a three-run home run, his second homer of the game.

It was the eighth loss in the last nine games for the Twins, and their lead in the West dropped to one-half game over Oakland. The win, coming at the expense of relief ace Jeff Reardon, enabled the Tigers to take a half-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the East.

There were 30 hits in the game, 5 of them home runs. Seven of the runs were scored in the ninth.

Kansas City 3, Texas 0--For most of the season, Danny Jackson’s luck has been bad. But he can’t lose when he pitches a shutout, and in this game, he won at Kansas City for only the seventh time in 22 decisions.

Jackson pitched a four-hitter and struck out seven. He won a duel with Charlie Hough (14-9) when Kevin Seitzer snapped a scoreless tie with a two-run double in the seventh.

Hough had a four-hitter until the Royals put together four hits with two out in the seventh to score all their runs.